Cordwinder mainspring refurb

[aeoliandave]

Remember this nice dark green Hoover PowerMax Supreme?

Well, the cut powernozzle cord has been replaced with a gray 3 wire cord from a computer power cord with lots of slack and a strain relief down on the head, so the 3 pin functions work as intended. Final thing was to replace the cut cord on the cordwinder.

Took the vacuum apart so the parts could be washed up, pretty darn clean inside all it needed was new filter media. But the cordwinder!!!

Musta sat in a very damp enviroment as the mainspring was corroded and so rusty the spring couldn't slide along itself, rusty patches catching on each other fouling up the mechanism.

I'd just cleaned up a cordwinder on the Sanyo and since this Hoover is otherwise in fine shape I wasn't going to give up on it.

 

[aeoliandave]

Solution? Soak entire cordwinder overnight in a vat of DUNK degreaser.

Dissassemble cordwinder electrical bits to the point of separating the halves, place inside burlap bag, manipulate and pull halves apart to free the reels and let the mainspring sproing!

Lots of cleaning up to do here. Wear rubber gloves.

 

[aeoliandave]

Take mainspring off reel and wash all the plastic parts very clean with steel wool to remove all rust grit - that's easy.

Now, how to clean up that spring?

 

[aeoliandave]

Both sides of the coiled spring must be sandpapered and steel wooled shiny again and thoroughly dry. Should allow spring to work as intended.

Solution? First wrap mainspring inside out around large diameter Sonotube, commence scraping off the rust deposits with penknife, sandpaper the bejeezus the surface rust tarnish, finish up with elbowgrease steel wooling.

That's 16 feet of highly sprung high tensile steel banding folks - wear eye protection and gloves in case the visegrips let go.

 

[aeoliandave]

Mainspring rust before. Major incrustation patches.

 

[aeoliandave]

One side of mainspring polishing in progress.

 

[aeoliandave]

Carefully uncoil inside-out spring from large drum on to small diameter tube right side out to clean up the other surface, wiping down as you go.

Repeat: scraping off the rust deposits with penknife, sandpaper the bejeezus the surface rust tarnish, finish up with elbowgrease steel wooling.

Now re-coil the spring on the Cordwinder takeup drum...

To be continued...

 

[aeoliandave]

Mainspring restored.

Time to apply handcream and restore handskin before proceeding. See, it's all that handwashing/scouring with Ajax...

 

[aeoliandave]

Component parts washed up ready to reassemble. New cord to be grafted onto slipring contacts.

 

[camelotshadow]

wow

nice technique
you did a great job with that!

 

[aeoliandave]

Cordwinder assembled.

spring half wound on the cordreel. Cord must be inserted through body opening, then spaded to the slipring contacts.

 

[aeoliandave]

Get out the damp rags, toothbrushes & crevicetool.

But first gotta clean up the body carcass. Here the tool top is cleaned except for the reel button cavity. The whole machine was full of this impacted dust - I think it was last used without a paper bag?

 

[aeoliandave]

Cordreel installed and tested for snappy action.

After careful consideration and because I don't have a suitable gray cord I chose a supple black 25 foot cord from a trashed Fantom Fury Second Edition - I have an original one with sleeker styling & green trim bits that's a keeper.

The Hoover has a replacable after-motor filter that slides down in slots on the cordwinder frame - exhausts through the cordreel chamber.

 

[aeoliandave]

Rewiring test.

Had to connect the hose plug to turn it on. Speed control also works great. 'Bag Full' airflow meter was plugged with carpet fibres aropund the spring - picked them out with a hooked pin and now it works again, too.

Rust pattern on the outside of motor indicates Humidity damage, not total immersion. The motor and fans are unrusted. Since the motor exhausts directly through the cordwinder frame & spring it's not surprising the spring was toasted. I'm thinking the buildup and distribution of the impacted dust throughout the vacuum was moist earth perhaps...

 

[aeoliandave]

The Money Shot

All cleaned and refurbished and good to go.

 

[aeoliandave]

Money Shot #2

I didn't know what the hook thing was on the wands.

They had been assembled wrong and the joint rusted. So with hammer & screwdriver I forced them apart, cleaned the rusty bores with a wirebrush on the drill and put them together the right way.

The powernozzle parks on the canister. Neat.

 

[aeoliandave]

Double Money Shot.

The Sanyo came out in the fresh air, too. Yes, I know the tools aren't the right ones, but they are matching gray, the crevice tool fits the slot and the brush is animal bristle.

A good day's work.

 

[camelotshadow]

lot of work

but there is a sense of satisfaction to bring back these ole faithful guys back from the grave & to give them a chance to again be useful...

 

[arh1953]

Those are just beautiful, hope you don't plan to loan them out after all that work. I've got to post pics of my latest Hoover canisters. They don't look quite that good though.